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Overview

It was Stalin who made Sochi, on the eastern shores of the Black Sea, a popular holiday resort. The Soviet strongman’s tailor-made dacha (holiday cottage) Zelenaya Roscha is now open to the pubic as part of a sanatorium – the health spa-meets-holiday camp type facilities that are a staple feature of Russia’s southern Black Sea coast. Sochi itself, sprawling for 93 miles (150 km) in a thin ribbon of development beside a rocky shore, is in full swing preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics, which means plenty of new hotels, infrastructure and – for the time being – noisy construction. The bulk of the Olympic events will take place up in the ...

It was Stalin who made Sochi, on the eastern shores of the Black Sea, a popular holiday resort. The Soviet strongman’s tailor-made dacha (holiday cottage) Zelenaya Roscha is now open to the pubic as part of a sanatorium – the health spa-meets-holiday camp type facilities that are a staple feature of Russia’s southern Black Sea coast. Sochi itself, sprawling for 93 miles (150 km) in a thin ribbon of development beside a rocky shore, is in full swing preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics, which means plenty of new hotels, infrastructure and – for the time being – noisy construction. The bulk of the Olympic events will take place up in the nearby mountains at Krasnaya Polyana where swanky new ski resorts are in the works. Also, the region’s airport is at the neighboring seaside resort of Adler, which will be connected to Sochi by high speed train. In the meantime, the mountainous hinterland is brilliant territory for hiking, particularly the Agura Valley and Mt. Fisht.

About the Expert

Simon Richmond has written Rough Guides to Malaysia and Japan; Lonely Planet guides to India and Russia; and adventure travel guides for Frommer's on Australia, India, South America, and Southeast Asia.